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three point 5 trillion dollars budget reconciliation package that would allow medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. later, a look at the biden administration's immigration and border policy with a washington post reporter. ♪ host: good morning, everyone. tens of thousands of migrants are bossing the southern border into del rio, texas, many of them haitian, leaving poverty and corruption in south america. these images dominating the news cycle yesterday. this morning, it's your turn to tell washington what you think about the situation. a question for you, do you support the immigration and border policy of the biden administration? if you do, (202) 748-8000. if you oppose, (202) 748-8001.

border state residents, a line for you this morning to tell us what it like where you live, (202) 748-8002. texas -- text us with your first name, city and state, (202) 748-8003. or join us on facebook, instagram, and twitter. we will get to your thoughts in a minute. let's begin with the situation at the border. the homeland security secretary yesterday discussed sites where they are forming camps on the international bridge. here is what he had to say to those crossing, thinking they would make the journey. [video clip] >> we have directed appropriate agencies to provide assistance and some work. the majority of migrants continue to be expelled under

the cdc authority. those that cannot be expelled under the authority and do not have a legal basis to remain will be placed in expedited removal proceedings. dhs is conducting regular flights to haiti, mexico, ecuador, and northern triangle countries. we are very concerned. the haitians taking this irregular path are receiving false information that the border is open or that temporary status is available and i want to make sure that it is known that this is not the way to come to the united states. that is false information. irregular migration poses a serious early risk to the migrants themselves. trying to enter the united states illegally is not worth tragedy, money, or effort. host: the homeland security

secretary yesterday at the border. "the new york times close vote reporting this morning, wire haitians coming in the numbers we are seeing? -- times" reporting this morning, "why are haitians coming in the numbers we are seeing"? host: that is "the new york times" wording. haitians on the border, this also open the new york times" this morning --

host: this morning, do you support or oppose the biden administration immigration and order policy? barry, you oppose. welcome to the conversation. go ahead. caller: i'm an independent, but eileen left. i just him to agree with this border policy.

all democrats and republicans, they want these immigrant in here for the cheap labor always. that's just the ones that run businesses, the democrats and republicans. i just don't understand what's going on either. all you got to do is round them up, get them out of here. whatever happened to the 70's and 80's when they would come up for a few months a year and work the cops. for some reason our government wants them to stay now. host: all right, here's the white house press secretary jen psaki talking about the challenging situation at the border. [video clip] >> this is devastating footage to watch but what we are trying to do is protect people. one way of conveying that this is not the time to come, we have in implementing title 42 and it's not just about people in the united states, it's also about protecting migrants that

would come and be in mass groups. we are also surging resources and taking a multipronged approach, working with the red cross to bring in the much-needed resources, with her own central kitchen and expediting repatriation flights to a range of countries in south and central america where they may have him from if they can be accepted back, and some of them back to haiti. that's the focus at this point in time. the message continues to be that now is not the time to come, for a range of reasons. including that we don't have the immigration system up and running in the way that we want, wooding that there is still a pandemic and these are the steps we are taking in part protect border communities in the migrants themselves. host: that was the white house press secretary yesterday. take a look at this image in the wall street journal this morning, migrants crossing the

rio grande back into mexico. about 16,000 migrants in recent weeks have gathered under a bridge in del rio. the headline is that the u.s. has started flying these migrants back to 80. under title 42, which you heard the press secretary mention, that allows the administration to rapidly expel migrants at the border to prevent the spread of covid-19 in the united states. joe, you oppose. go ahead. caller: it's really sad to see the story with all the haitians tech this. i was particularly concerned with an image that i saw where they were being corralled with whips. it's sad that that is happening you guys member when the evs administration wasn't laced. they actually had folks come in

to give them the protection that they needed. even though it wasn't as good as most people thought, you never saw these kinds of images where it appeared that certain kind of people and if you remember, haiti has been going through a lot of turmoil. the president got assassinated and then you had the earth wake in the hurricane. i think they qualify for refugee status. putting them on planes and sending them back is not the right look the biden administration, particularly an administration that had a lot of soup from african-americans. this is not going to be a good day. that's all i have. host: ok. james, new hampshire, share your thought. -- thoughts. caller: my perspective, from this standpoint, at one time i was in haiti during the 1990

period and before, when they did have mass migrations and stuff in guantanamo bay, cuba, for a time, taking care of after the process, taking care of the haitians migrating, thousands and thousands of them there. since that time, i have married one of the migrants and we had a daughter. now she is a practicing physician in new york city. however, the numbers coming are massive and i understand that this country cannot absorb waves of people of that nature. and i realize the conditions that they were existing in in haiti, having been there and lived through that turbulent time. so, i understand why these

people are coming, but there is a limit to which the united states can accept mass migration across the borders. host: james, what are your thoughts on many of them having not lived in haiti for a long time. they migrated after the earthquake, before or after that, to countries like brazil and chili? -- file -- chile? caller: my daughter got caught in that earthquake and was airlifted out by the u.s. military. i understand the depravation of the country, having lived there, and the horrors that they face. i can fully understand that there are people in desperation exiting that location for economic and other reasons. simply because of the unstable

environment they are living in now. as a person, i would say i have to do the same thing in their position. the human horror. host: take a look as we talked to kirk in alabama, these images were captured by fox news and a human rights lawyer. you oppose what you are seeing. go ahead. caller: good morning, greta, america, thank you for taking my call. i'm completely opposed to it. i don't understand what's going on that our country, our government, our state governors would allow this president to mass migrate so many people to this country and then don't fire

any health restrictions and such. and then i also find it particularly curious and interesting that for some reason , the united states has a particular special policy that is anti-haitian immigration, for whatever the reason. you know, who doesn't understand that of all the people migrating to this country since this administration, who is more qualified for refugee status than the haitian people? why is it that so many other south american and central american migrants can come to this country for seven months, but it doesn't become a crisis until it becomes predominantly haitian people? it makes america seem to be racist against black people in particular. i don't understand it, greta.

i don't think that this country can sustain this type of unfettered, unmanaged, open immigration. it's destroying our country, our economy, and everything else. this president, if you can call him that, is a disaster. so is his administration and everything they touch. who didn't know that about joe biden over his 50 year rear? he's a bumbling fool. he's mr. magoo in reality. host: governor greg abbott with this tweet, requesting a federal emergency declaration from the president in the state of texas in response to the border crisis and the dire situation in that county. now, a letter to the president from 26 republican governors reads this way, the month-long surge in illegal

host: rollo, in washington, d.c., good morning, go ahead. caller: i'm appalled by all the

imagery from customs and border patrol. it's reprehensible and i want to know where is congressional black caucus on this? where is maxine waters from california? where's the head of the congressional black caucus? these are people of color, people of african dissent and brown people, hispanic people who are basically indigenous to those regions as well, dissented from aztecs and mayans. these are people of color letting the afghani's over here because the census bureau considers them white. i have worked with the census bureau and u.s. aid and i have worked with haitians and been to haiti and a lot of the money that we allotted to them in that earthquake was misappropriated from the upper echelon. it wasn't evenly distributed. there were no programs initiated and a lot of those are still

suffering from 2010, of course what, 11 years ago. our country tends to be so humanitarian and altruistic and it comes to letting people from the middle east or eastern europe in. when it comes to people of color and particularly people of african descent, we are hesitant to voice our opinions or be so giving or welcoming to them. we still have this image and this racism that has been embedded psychologically through centuries and it's just unfortunate and i'm very appalled this. i want to know where are the people with black lives matter. where are the good, quote unquote, white liberals, who really believe in economic parity and who are human it carrion in your thinking. i want to know where these people are. i don't hear anything from them. thank you.

host: here's a tweet from a member of congress saying they want to express their concern over reports of an urgent humanitarian isis for tens of thousands of displaced haitians and i want to be clear that we are a nation -- humanitarian crisis for tens of thousands of displaced haitians and i want to be clear that we are a nation of humanity and rule of law. i will continue to fight see that refugees are welcome in america, regardless of race or country of origin. she writes that she is the chair of the congressional black caucus, her reaction to what she is seeing on the southern border. you and a previous caller mentioned as well, images of border patrol on horseback with a wit, corralling migrants -- with a whip, corralling

migrants. here's the press secretary reacting to that. [video clip] >> there are photos of order patrol using whips on migrants. there are people who are upset. can you explain that? >> understandably so. i've seen some of the footage. i don't have the full context. i can't imagine what context would make that appropriate. i don't think anyone seeing that footage would think it was acceptable or appropriate. host: the white house response to the images that some have mentioned and people were discussing yesterday. it's your turn now to let washington and the decision-makers -- know about what you are -- how you feel about what you are seeing on the border and the administrative response to it. fred, next. caller: can you hear me?

i'm originally from sydney, australia. i came to the u.s. in 19 if t9 and you wouldn't believe the paperwork i had to do to get into the country. i had to see three doctors, have background investigations done. i had to get a whole bunch of things done. for people, i had to do all of those things and i was married to an american by the way. which is why i wanted to come, to join him at the beginning. the people complaining now about how hard, how difficult it is when people are just crossing the border and don't have to go through the whole paperwork and hold making sure they are not bringing viruses into the country? i think it's not correct. i mean you know, even back then, 1969, i had to go through, the paperwork came to about one inch thick, actually.

i oppose it because, you know, people need to go through the right procedures to do the right thing. host: what's your reaction to hearing stories like this one from a haitian in the new york times? a friend of mine told me to cross here, i heard it was easier according to the haitian who spoke to the roof order. he and his pregnant wife had traveled from the border where they have been living after earlier stops over for the last three years in she lay, olivia, peru, panama, took us two months to get here by foot and by bus. caller: it's terrible, absolutely terrible. that said, if they had gone to the embassy and tried to go through the correct route to come to america legally, i believe that they wouldn't have had to go through such heartache or difficulty. that they had to to come here.

that being said, i had to go through difficulties, to, but mine was mainly paperwork, going through channels, embassies, getting all different things. there is a way to come here legally. i guess it was tv that they tested me for back then. i don't exactly remember. as i said, i came from sydney, australia. what was i going to bring in? a didgeridoo? but i had to go through that process and i think that people need to go through the process. host: looking at this image from the new york times of haitians and other migrants crossing with packages on their heads and other belongings. they write that haitians are still a small percentage of border officers. 4% of those encountered in august, but the numbers

ballooned in recent months, 28,000 have been intercepted by the border patrol along the u.s.-mexico border in the current fiscal year that ends september 30 compared to 4395 2020 and 2046 2019. patricia, chicago, good morning to you. caller: any person physically present in the united states or who arrives in the united date irrespective of their status may apply for asylum. for asylum-seekers making it to the united states it often means they are finding safety from persecution, torture, and sometimes death. more recently, biden enacted a $2 trillion infrastructure plan. that could supply the financial

means and the living conditions. the requirement for affordable housing in the united states. i think they are protected by the law and i think they should be treated as civilians and i don't they should be on horseback or touring these people as though they have no rights. that's what i have to say. host: all right. mary, dayton, ohio, we will go to you next. caller: i do support the biden policies. with everything that has been going on in the world with the pandemic, with the afghanistan, with the immigration. even at the border, a lot of these things that are happening, yes, we can all do better. i don't like the images i have been seeing of them on horseback.

i don't approve of any of that. but i also think that the way the media goes about this, it's like a knee-jerk reaction to everything that's happening and it's like you know, the man has only been in office for eight months and he came into a shell of a state department. his immigration policies, there was nothing left as far as them getting cards to get over here. we need to put this in a perspective, you know. like every day is like a got you or i caught this person doing this and i want the media to tamp that down a little bit and let's try to approach this in a humane way that helps people and doesn't hurt people. we are in this country and watching these people try to get here, the things that they have to go through just to get here? that right there should tell you something about, you know, who

they are as people. if they are coming here to seek asylum, let us give them that opportunity to, you know, have their case be heard. all this other stuff, it's, it's just so much. you literally have to turn off the tv because every day it's a gotcha moment and i would like to see it tamped down. thank you for taking my call. host: ashton in newport, kentucky, they didn't swim there. the government needs to take action against those facilitating the trafficking. manna terrien reasons is not enough justification. to access your first name, city and state, to (202) 748-8003. hello, mark. caller: thank you for taking my call.

i want to put this in perspective. my family, grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, both sides, came here through ellis island, they had documents. my parents or grandparents had a proved -- had to prove they were married. my parents, my and send uncles all had birth certificates. they all went through a physical first thing. my family went through the great depression, both sides. didn't get a dime and welfare. these people, i have seen interviews with these people. they are making demands already. they want housing and who'd, they want this and that and they are not even here legally. i will tell you what, i'm a democrat, i support president biden and isa his policies, but you know what, on this he's way off base and you know what? remember how trump got elected

16 and we are going to see the republicans take over the congress again unless we stop this. host: mark, do you think the president is doing what he can given the situation? you heard the homeland security secretary. they have already begun to the work thousands. it started sunday. the flights are bringing them back to the prince, a country that some of them haven't been in any years. caller: greta, they are only to orting single women and single men. they are letting unaccompanied minors and families in. my opinion is no exceptions. everybody goes back, sorry. host: brett, nevada. caller: hello, greta. i'm wondering where kamala harris is. she is supposed to be the one in

charge of the order. she cracked jokes that she hasn't been to europe yet either. you want to know where al green is at? jackson lee? maxine waters? they are busy trying to get your taxpayer dollars. they don't care what's going on on the border states. they just want your money. they don't care about you or the people stuck on the border. it's funny, all these problems that we have on the border, democrats don't call it a crisis. but it is. look at how these people are living. it breaks my heart to see it. as a country, we should be better. host: what should, what should be happening at this camp under

this international bridge in del rio, where folks, children, are sleeping on makeshift beds of card order, camps made of sticks, cloth over makeshift tent. what should happen? caller: we have empty military bases that would probably austin next to nothing to redo and at least get these people out of the situation they are in. we don't do that because we don't want to spend the money. we want to spend $3.5 trillion on a reconciliation bill that doesn't do really anything for anybody. we don't want to pass a 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill until we get the 3.5 in taxpayer money. the people that should be caring

about the borders, texas, california, arizona, where are these democrats at? why aren't they speaking up? host: yesterday the senate parliamentarian ruled that democrats cannot include immigration proposals in this so-called reconciliation package. that's a way for them to clear the 3.5 trillion. their way around getting around the threshold in the senate. here is chuck schumer of new york on the path forward for immigration reform in the wake of senate parliamentarian decisions. [video clip] >> we will continue the fight to find the best option available for immigrants hoping for a chance to one day obtain lawful residencies in america. the last year and a half have shown how vital immigrants have

been in keeping our economy going during a time of rice's. so many wrist their lives on the front line of this endemic but remain excluded from the very same benefits that kept millions of others secure in these hard times. workers from one end of america to the other, one of the reasons is the trump administration dramatically back on immigrants in this country. we need them. we need them in our labor force in our labor force and to continue american vitality. we need them for their part in the american dream. it is estimated in my city that one third of the health care workers at the height of covid who risked their lives for us were immigrants. having a strong law that helps the immigrants is vital. the american people understand

that fixing the broken immigration system is a moral imperative and economic imperative. immigration reform has been one of the most important causes of my time in the senate and i will not stop fighting to achieve it. host: here is the minority leader, mitch mcconnell of kentucky, on the senate parliamentarian decision to remove immigration proposals from that reconciliation plan by democrats. here he is. [video clip] >> this will not permit them to shove a massive amnesty for illegal immigrants that they want to ram through. these are not mere budgetary tweaks and as bernie sanders

said this is not to enact major social policy changes. that's chairman sanders from a few years ago. a lesson that he and his caucus need to relearn. even with the border as insecure as it has ever been, the far left want sweeping amnesty and democratic leaders dutifully tried their very best. it just goes to show you how radical this legislation is going to be. host: that was mitch mcconnell yesterday on stripping out proposals from the reconciliation and. this morning we are talking with all of you about the presidents border policies. do you support or oppose? greg, you support. good morning to you, go ahead.

caller: i do support because i want the democrats to prove to the american public. the more they do to try to destroy this country? and then you have mr. schumer, senator schumer saying some experts estimate? why doesn't somebody ask how many and what were the estimates? this is crazy, what they are doing. but supposedly he got elected. so the american public, despite what the mainstream media spin is to protect him from everything negative, sooner or later the real hunters dad and

willie brown whore is going to come through. host: john, go ahead. caller: i live in a town of 30,000 people. predominantly latino, which is great. our town has a hospital, high school, three or four elementary schools. we are 35,000 people. for 200,000 people that came across last month? we are going to need what, five times, six time that? six hospitals? six high schools? 15 grammar schools? i don't know why biden doesn't just close the border and asked amnesty? why doesn't he do the right thing and just close the border? trump had that working, had

people talking. we had americans not competing for people desperate for work that would work low wages. we had the wages going up. now there's going to be a battle for wages. i just don't get it. the infrastructure needed to build from one million people that have come through this year has got to be staggering. rebuilding this infrastructure for immigrants, or americans? i really, the law work. i like to the law for two reasons. one, it was passive. number two, more importantly, it was a one time expense that lasted for 50 years. we have got to go back. all the money pouring in year after year after year, this could have been solved by a wall . biden broke the wall.

biden's got to fix it. kamala harris, she's got to do something, to. i have been to oakland. i don't know if anyone has been to oakland. it's the filthiest city in the world, probably. it has got trash and everything wrong. host: you are sharing your experience there in california area this, from a newspaper that writes about the impact of the mission del rio texas, writing that it's a thriving cultural city of 36,000 and 80% of the population is hispanic and they are used cross-border traffic and they benefit from it with workers and residents going back and arthur ross the bridge daily -- -- back and forth across the bridge daily.

host: more from the dn why use the reporting. host: john, it's your turn to tell washington what you think. caller: be honest with you, i'm

having a hard time thinking about the whole thing, listening to everybody. as far as immigration goes, the haitians, i get where they are coming from and i agree we need to be a humanitarian country. as far as biden and kamala harris trying to figure out what to do, i can't even imagine what it's like. as far as immigration goes, yeah, it would be nice if we could do it all legally, but who is going to set that up and where? we don't have enough anything to do anything in this country. first of all, we are so divided about everything. it will be difficult to figure out what is right for everybody but the deal is, we all know, we need more people in this country to do more work. how we go about that, i'm not sure. the one thing i would like to point out is the media, far as the media goes, i saw a bumper

sticker that said fox news, the rich telling the middle-class to blame the poor. where are we really at? as far as immigration goes, we are hurting for people on cape cod. i've got at least 100 friends within 10 miles of me dying for help. no help whatsoever. restaurants are shutting down because no one helps for the winter. usually they go through at least october 12. what are we supposed to do? i can't believe this. host: more reporting from the borders, this is charlotte cuss person, tweeting out that haitians and others are flooding a bus the border to mexico from under the international bridge, grabbing taxis, walking, anything to get across and avoid the deep asian from the united states. let's hear from james in morris, massachusetts.

caller: to my friend in brewster, i'm very familiar with brewster. what are they supposed to do? they were shut down by the government because of a pandemic. this has nothing to do with immigration. these people in brewster that can't work because of mask mandates and everything else like that, it's ridiculous. i'm pretty familiar with brewster. my comments on the border is that this is absolutely 100% a joe biden problem. he started it. you are not having the numbers of the people coming at us. in may it was over 200000 and it hasn't east by that number or more every month since, with 300,000 getaways, they call them. they don't even know where these people are. these people have at least an apprehended. the images with horseback riding? nobody got with.

-- whipped. you have one guy chasing two teams of professional football players? host: how do you respond to people saying that they aren't animals, they are humans. caller: i understand that. you can't make this analogy because they are humans. it's an invasion. they are trying to the people out. they are not ripping anybody, they are whipping their horses. when you tell people that you can't come here, they will still try to come in. how else will they do it? he only physical way they can. there are not enough border patrol agents to do it. the numbers being were ordered are totally disingenuous. blaming trump for this is ridiculous.

the government had to shut down everything because of pandemic. it's ridiculous. i'm a lifelong democrat, but this is written -- ridiculous. in my hometown where we were brought up, $72,000 a year for protective status. times how much? 300,000 million? this is ridiculous. they have got to stop someplace. you people can say anything you want about fox, but you are not adding the truth from mainstream host:. host:-- mainstream. host: heard your point. ida, connecticut. caller: i don't know what people are talking about as far as the biden policies. i don't think we have a policy. currently the house in the senate have not able to pass a

decent, a well thought out, decent policy for immigrants for years. they just can't get together on it. i guess one is afraid of larger numbers and the other one wants to keep it down. i don't know why they get into some good policy established. that's what has to be done. don't blame the immigrants. blame the house in the senate for not getting a good policy. host: all right. gary, northeast washington state texting us to say that the world is in the middle of pandemic, we don't need open border at all until we have covid under control. gary in connecticut, we will go to you next. caller: i have been a registered democrat for 54 years and i voted in support for joe biden, but on the sixth of august i

left the democratic already and became an unaffiliated voter. the problem on the border in particular has disturbed me. if we look back at history, 1900 to 1914, ellis island alone was able to process 1900 people per day. over 14 years. it came to 10 million people. that's just ellis island. why with all the modern things that have today like computers, we don't have a plan to let all come to this country and organize a way to get shots and be examined as they did at ellis island. i look at the condominium i live in now and all the workers have worked on our roofing and they cut our grass and did all the service, they are hispanics from south of the border. we need these people and we are not doing anything in an organized and are to get them

the proper inoculations, testing, and have a policy to let them come to this country legally. i'm really disgusted over the whole situation. host: more reporting from the border, from reuters, tweeting out a video, this scene played out for hours on the mech co-side of rio grande as haitians crossed chest high water with small kids and belongings on their shoulders. children were riding, parents fretted over where to sleep as night fell over a dusty field with no shelter. let's hear from al in tennessee. good morning. caller: first, on the wit thing, those are called rains. it's attached to a bit in the horse of the mouth -- the mouth of the horse. they are not tips and you would never allow someone on the ground to grab the reins because

they would have troll of the horse. that's a whole other issue. whether you are talking about the border, and a stand, the economy or the pandemic, it's not a crisis. this is the land. the biden administration and is working. you cannot be 100 sent wrong on 100% of the issues unless that's your land. they are not bringing school teachers, nurses, truck drivers, the sort of people that we need here. the people coming over are illiterate, uneducated, unvaccinated. they are a drag on the welfare system and future democratic voters, that's all there is to it. host: this is paul in missouri saying why do christians in the u.s. have so little compassion for these desperate christians egging for help, escaping failed states like haiti and mexico. america first? james in buffalo, kentucky.

we will hear from you. caller: hello? hey, how you doing. thanks for taking my own call, i appreciate that. i think one of the biggest ins why they are not wanting to haitians in their is because if you look at our own people and all the albums we have out of them, we just don't need that. when you look at some of the afghans and the other people they are allowing in, they will be contributing to society and it's one of the reasons why -- host: why wouldn't the haitians contribute to society caller: caller:? they will contribute by being on the welfare system and being in our prisons host:. host:how do you know that? caller: i know how it works. host: why have that blanket statement about an entire group of people? caller: because we already have

the problems. i guess you didn't see all of black lives matter murderers. host: you are saying that it is because of the color of their skin? caller: no, because they are a product of their environment. if you take someone who knows how to live -- host: we are going to move on. kathleen? caller: i wanted to respond to the previous caller and say that haitians would probably work a lot harder than black americans. these are cultural issues. also i want to say that democrat voters, trump haters don't understand life and living. life has been about competition from the beginning of mankind. individual versus individual, group versus group, country versus country. america takes in one million at

least legal immigrants every year. we have over 22 million at least illegal immigrants in the united states since the 80's. been here for decades. i call in and talk about this on the show and have been forever. now we are taking in 200,000 every month. the guy said that we are not taking brown folks? there are latinos coming in from central america, 200,000 every month from central and latin america. in los angeles, black americans who are not immigrant, legal or illegal, are 40% of the homeless. this is about competition. i have called in to say this 1000 times. in los angeles you cannot even hide a black american man legal

or illegal working a construction job. they are all held by brown folks, like the other guy who called in to say that america doesn't let in brown folks? in los angeles, spanish is the predominant language now in the construction industry. if america was so racist, why are all of these people from africa, haiti, and latin america rushing to a racist america? you know, the media is very reactionary area they never go over the data, they never talk about the economics of it. they never talk about how in these major cities controlled by democrats, black americans are suffering, citizens who have been here for generations. so, we are going to bring in other people to compete? lachman need jobs in the construction industry. you know it's like democratic

voters are not even logical. host: cindy in boston has this to say, president biden should all a joint session of congress to demand immigration reform. jackie in trenton, missouri, what do you say? caller: i'm trying to disgusted with democrats and republicans. host: why? caller: instead of working together to try to solve the problem of immigration in this country, they are fighting like -- like kids over a tootsie roll. they, president biden has opened the border and i have heard people talking about covid coming in from the border. but it's just not covid. they need to work on an immigration system that is going to be safe for the american

people that are still suffering from the first shutdown over covid. the people can't even catch up on their bills from then and they can't even get help because all the money is going to the immigrants. that's all i have to say. you know, they need to get together and work on this instead of, like i said, acting like a couple of kids fighting over tootsie roll's. host: michelle, wisconsin. caller: i have one thing to say, we are all american. we should not be fighting over all of this. biden is doing a tremendous job took on a whole lot after the previous trump presidency and we should focus on all americans, all americans. host: to you and others, turn

down that television so we don't have the echo. omar in brooklyn, what do you say? caller: good morning, america, especially black america. they are talking about black people coming to a country that is not destitute by earthquakes and everything. everybody coming from europe, they let them, ireland, all over the world. but they shut the border down, they put it on cnn and msnbc that all of us black are the biggest problem now. this is par for the course in america. i meant to call in on september 11 especially, here i am in new york city with all the people coming in -- calling in about what they heard on 9/11. you know what's hard about the

people who live in new york city that actually lived through 9/11? i lived through that, i was at five world trade. i'm here 20 years later. the point is this, world trade happening? it was a bubble that popped. all the black people lost their jobs and we had to recover from that. all of a sudden the housing bubble pops. all of these economic downfalls for black americans in this country. and those problems on the border? 9/11, i have this story about a lady -- host: we are going to stick to the border story. thank you. ben, west virginia. caller: i think that immigration is a disaster. i think we have been overrun,

invaded. we are not sponsor before their overflow, their population control, the public game they are playing. we can't afford it. enough is enough, we need to get the borders shot and get these people the hell out of here. where is this leading? there is no end to it. it's just going to be a constant handful. host: georgia, keith? keith, good morning to you in georgia mark caller: -- georgia? caller: good morning, how are you? i think a lot has to be worked through. seems like every week we have a

different crisis but for the most part the people complaining about immigrants are not coming from a country in such disarray. we are not out in the water, we are not being treated like cattle. i understand that throughout history, haitians have always been turned back. i don't know if it is because of the darker you are, the more you are discriminated against, but if you are fleeing death, my family, i would try to come here, to. we need to be uncomfortable so that we can see what it's like for other people before we judge, you know? that's basically all i wanted to say. host: all right, that was keith in georgia. we have got a couple of minutes left here. before we end the conversation and move on, here's the majority leader chuck schumer, talking about the, he says mitch

mcconnell is putting the economy at risk, republicans are putting it at risk by not agreeing to raise the debt ceiling, a deadline that looms over washington in the coming days. here is the majority leader. [video clip] >> both sides have a responsibility to pay for this debt. it has always been done in a bipartisan way. unfortunately, last week leader mcconnell announced that the senate republicans are trying to deliberately turn their back on their obligations. when asked if republicans would block an extension of the debt limit, leader mcconnell amazingly and craven lay set republicans are united in opposition to raising the debt ceiling. shame. the same leader mcconnell urged democrats and republicans to support raising that ceiling when trump was president and he was majority leader.

he always comes up with some sophistry as to why it's different, but everyone knows it's not friend. in fact, democrats supported re-time is raising the debt ceiling when trump was president and if my recollection is right, at least one of those times was when the house, the senate, and the presidency were controlled by republicans. should republicans careen the country towards default, the country could actually be plunged into recession, laying off millions. making it hard for people to pay for the food on the table, their mortgage and their rent. shame. host: here is the republican leader, mitch mcconnell, on the floor talking about raising the

debt ceiling. [video clip] >> we do not have divided government. democrats do not eat our help. they have every tool to address the debt limit on their own, the same partyline process that used to ram through inflationary spending in march and already plan to use once again this fall. no look, this might inconvenience democrats, it might delay their reckless tactics and spending spree but democrats cannot risk the full credit of our nation to serve their own partisan timelines. democrats decided to govern alone. their unified democratic government must put basic governing duties ahead of partisan wish list. if they don't, the consequences for our country would be catastrophic. senate republicans will support a clean, continuing resolution that includes appropriate

disaster relief and targeted afghan assistance. we will not support legislation that raises the debt limit. host: the party leaders on a deadline for raising the debt ceiling, one that is approaching quickly in washington. we will leave it there on our conversation on immigration. if we missed you, please call back in from 8:30 a.m.-9 a.m. because we will return to that topic. coming up after a short break, we will turn our attention to health care and will talk to kaiser health care about the 3.5 trillion dollar budget bill that would allow medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs. later, we will discuss the president's immigration policies and efforts by congressional democrats to grant undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship. we will be right back. ♪

>> coming up live today on c-span, the house is back at 9:00 a.m. eastern for general speeches, legislative business begins at 11 a.m. members are working in the short-term spending bill to keep the government funded beyond october 1. on c-span ms. psaki: the senate2 returns to consider the u.s. senate district court and on c-span3 at 9:30 a.m. eastern, the homeland security director and the fbi director r and capitol hill for a senate hearing on national secrete threats. at 2:30 p.m., executives from facebook and google appear before a senate judiciary subcommittee to testify on competition and privacy among big tech companies. >> c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store.

shop now and get cozy for cooler weather with the c-span fall sale. browse to see what's new and save up to 30% on her classic logo apparel shirts and hoodies and fleece blankets, mugs and glasses. there is something for every c-span fan. shep the fall sale now through september 21. your purchase will support our nonprofit operations. go to c-span shop.org. >>" "washington journal" continues. host: we will talk about drug costs in the reconciliation bill. before we get to those details, what do democrats want to do with the three point $5 trillion package? guest: they would like to expand

medicaid for the dozen or so states that have not yet expanded under the affordable care act. the supreme court made that optional in most states have gone ahead and joint because the federal government pays 90% of the cost of that. there for about a dozen states including big states like texas and florida and georgia that have not yet expanded. there are several million people worth of not getting the benefits of the affordable care act. they increased some of the subsidies for people who by their coverage through the aca. earlier this year, they would like to extend them or make them permanent. they want to expand benefits for medicare. cover things like dental care or eye care or hearing coverage. they would like to add those things to medicare. finally, they want to expand home and community-based care. this is part of a long-term care

issue that congress has been grappling with for decades and every time they tried to do something, the price tag makes them sit back and think we will do this another day. it's possible that will happen here. the way they will pay for these expanded benefits is with these prescription drug visions which would not only help people with the cost of prescription drugs but it would save the federal government a lot of money it now spends on perception drugs. host: how would that work? guest: the main ideas to let medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs which it is not allowed to do. congress added prescription drug coverage to medicare back in 2003. it was mostly a republican bill. at the time, congress is run by republicans and there was a republican president and one of the things they did and that bill in order to not cause the drug industry to come after them was saying the federal

government. could not negotiate the prices that has caused a lot of price inflation on prescription drugs and everybody complained. everybody pays for prescription drugs. the federal government complained that it cost too much though there's been a bipartisan effort to do something about drug prices for the last three or four years, with the major goal of former president trump who didn't manage to get it over the finish line. is something both democrats and republicans want to do with the drug industry is quite opposed to the idea of cutting back on the profits. host: how much profit are we talking about? >> the drug companies make billions and billions of dollars. we are talking about a relatively small number of drugs that medicare would be able to negotiate for, drugs that don't have a current genetic version. there would be a limit under most proposals that would be

based on what those drugs cost and other developed countries where they have price controls. just those relatively small things could save hundreds of billions of dollars for the federal government. host: would it also guest: that's a big part of this. the way the medicare prescription drug benefit is created in part d where most of the outpatient drugs are, there is what's called a catastrophic cap. as a patient, you only have to pay a certain amount but once you exceed that cap come you still have to pay 5%. in 2003, there weren't many drugs that were expensive enough that the 5% could be a lot of money but now there are. a lot of medicare patients are paying a lot of money for their prescription drugs. one of the goals of this is to help them save money. host: we have a line for medicare recipients this morning

step. you can also text us with your name, city and state. talk more about expanding medicare benefits. which benefits are we talking about and how much money with that said recipients? guest: that could save recipients a lot of money depending on how they do it. there were two competing desires for expanding medicare this year. one was to lower the eligibility age from its current 65 down to 60 and the other wants to add benefits that medicare doesn't have. medicare hasn't changed that much since it was first created in 1965 when it emulated what was then your average blue cross blue shield policy that people

in the private sector had. insurance has changed in the private sector as it has for medicare. medicare covers many things but it doesn't cover dental care for the most part, it doesn't cover eye care, doesn't cover hearing care. on till recently it didn't cover much preventive care which congress has added and those are benefits that are obviously used a lot by senior citizens. they could end up saving people a lot of money that they now have to pay on their own. host: lowering the age of medicare from 65 to 60 is included in this package? guest: it's not, they decided to go with the benefits instead. host: if they had lowered the eligibility age, what would have

been the impact on that on taxpayers? guest: it would have helped a lot of people who currently are paying a lot for their insurance. the increase in subsidies they gave four people to buy coverage through the affordable care act can help those people between 60-65 whose premiums are higher. that is something i think people who are advocating for medicare for all would like to come back to at some point. it's something president biden and doors to the campaign trail. host: what are progressives saying about this proposal the guest:, the lead proponent is bernie sanders in the senate who is on the budget committee and the main backer in the senate of medicaid for all. this is something he wants to do. host: you mentioned the reaction from industry to what democrats are pushing. i want to show people a reason

pharma adam negotiating rises of medicare and have you talk about it. [video clip] >> they say they want to negotiate medicine prices and met his care but make no mistake in what politicians mean is they will decide which medicines you can and cannot get regardless of what your doctor prescribes, regardless of which medicine has been working, regardless of what new treatments become available. it can even lead to long waits and medicare for new treatments and cures. call congress, tell them not to play doctor with your medicine. k four by pharma. host: is that true? guest: this has been the argument the drug companies have been making since the 1980's. the first big bill i covered in congress was the medicare catastrophic coverage act that passed in 1988 and was repealed in 1989 for reasons that were mostly unrelated to the drug benefit but not completely. it was the first attempt i

congress to at a drug benefit to medicare in the drug industry argued at the time that if you don't let us make unlimited profits, we won't be able to discover the next generation of breakthrough drugs. this has been the argument all along, that if we limit much prescription drug makers can take in, then we limit our ability to have new drugs going forward. it's been a constant tug of war and since then, in 2003, when republicans were trying to add a drug benefit, we are seeing it now and it's basically the exact same argument. host: let's go to oscar in california, welcome to the conversation, go ahead. caller: good morning all step thank you to c-span. what really stuck out in my mind listening to mitch mcconnell, and it relates to the 3.5 trillion dollars and medicare, is this " reckless taxing and

spending." i would say it's reckless to not tax and spend and i know think there's a single american, never mind kentucky but basically the rest of the united states that doesn't think these billionaires, these fortune 500 companies that are getting away with paying no taxes, i don't think there is a single american that doesn't think they need to increase their taxes and they could build in a tax incentive if they lower drug pricing. it's not the money, it's the money. host: what about that? guest: it's always about the money at least on capitol hill step who will pay more and who will pay less? that is what congress is there to decide. host: good this proposal benixed by the senate parliamentarian? guest: that's unlikely.

congress has made many of not most of the changes to medicare over the years as part of budget reconciliation bills. that's what budget reconciliation is for, it's for congress to offer mandatory programs as opposed to the annual spending bills. the reconciliation process was designed to make budget related changes to programs like medicare and medicaid and that's exactly what they are doing here. host: how popular is the prescription drug prices with americans? guest: extremely popular and that's why democrats and republicans say they want to do something. the trick is doing it in a way that will not cause the enormous multimillion dollar negative ad campaigns from the drug industry but doing it in a way that will actually save money and lower prescription drug prices. do u.s. is one of the only developed nations that doesn't somehow limit drug prices.

most of the rest of the world does and that's why the prescription drug industry is so agitated about the possibility the u.s. could join the rest of the world in limiting how much you pay for prescription drugs. host: which democrats are opposing this plan? guest: there are a number of moderate democrats in the house. the drug part of the bill didn't make it through the house energy and commerce committee last week because three democrats voted against it so the amendment failed on the amendment failed on a 29-29 try. they would like to do a much more limited package of prescription drug benefits mostly aimed at part b drugs, drugs that are delivered by doctors in their offices or in hospitals. they can be some of the most expensive drugs like anticancer drugs, but those are not the drugs that most people end up using. there would be a lot of relief for a few people with that sort of thing.

it's not to say that it won't happen and it might end up in a house built, but they only have a couple of votes to spare and none of the republicans will join them. host: mary in nevada, democrats line. caller: good morning, i agree with the prior caller. i saw mitch mcconnell on fox news talking about the democrats wanting to what they call free giveaways. he failed to speak about the free checks giveaways to billionaires, $2 trillion, not paid for on her debt. that's giving money to people who don't need it. as for medicare, are you aware under the trump administration the push to privatize medicare? if you are somebody who has traditional medicare, it puts

you into one of the private advantage plans. guest: this has been a push to the last 20 years or so. republicans would like to see more private plans involved in medicare. there is something called medicare advantage and is currently optional but an increasing number of people who are used to being in managed care plans during their working years are opting for these medicare advantage lands partly because many of them, because they get paid more by the federal government, are able to provide some of these extra benefits, things like dental care, vision care, hearing care. that's in exchange for agreeing to only use certain networks of doctors and hospitals. you can get more benefits in most parts of the country with medicare advantage and that's what a lot of people are opting to do. it's currently optional. you can remain with the traditional medicare package which allows you to see any

provider who accepts medicare which is most of them. you can buy a medicare supplement insurance policy that will help you pay the rather large medicare deductible and copayment or you can opt into one of these medicare advantage plans. republicans would like to see more of that and less of the government side. democrats believe there should be a medicare advantage and don't believe people should be pushed into it. host: jerry in virginia, independent all step turn down your television. caller: hello? good morning. we all know that drug prices are too high in this country. europeans of price controls and even mexico and canada.

that's a moot point at this time. what i'm worried about, i was watching the tom harmon show yesterday and they had the president of the physicians fraud on national health plan on and he was talking about that liz fowler in the current administration who was in the obama administration, they are pushing this new model, this cmmi model called direct contract entities where they are pretty much bribing medical writers. i don't even think they notify the patients. host: do you know anything about that? guest: cmmi is the center for

medicare and medicaid innovation and was created under the medic here -- under the aca and they expired with different types of payment possibilities. liz fowler is the head of that agency and worked in the obama ended his duration and help write the affordable care act, it's basically her job to test out new payment systems. this is something that democrats and republi ado, to find more es to create that balance between what the government pays and what patients get in some of these experiments work pretty well and some of them have not worked well, but that's kind of the idea behind this center is to figure out what works and doesn't. host: talk about how he started out, that americans pay more and we are subsidizing drug prices around the world. guest: that's absolutely true. that's why the prescription drug

companies are fighting so hard because the united states is the last -- place they can make unlimited profits. host: this is from the health and human services department on september 9 -- americans spend more than $1500 per person which are far higher than any comparable nation step brand-name drugs are rising faster than at least -- then inflation. some americans don't take drugs because of the cost. what are they saying here? guest: this is everybody's goal. they want people to be able to pay less at the prescription drug counter and insurance companies to pay less to get the drugs, they want the prescription drug industry to continue to make enough money to

research and develop the next generation of drugs and finding that palance is really hard and that's been the goal. doing this for 35 years. this has been an -- a continuing team. host: rockville, maryland, independent. caller: good morning, it's really mind-boggling how people have to choose between buying food and paying drug prices or their kids will suffer. they keep getting millions and millions in bonuses every year. this is not capitalism, this is theft. thank you. host: we will go to george in ruth or glenn, virginia.

caller: how are you this morning? besides having medicare, i also have a supplemental insurance to help cover the cost of my medications which can be a little high. over the past couple of years, since i've been on medicare and had the supplemental insurance, i have seen my supplemental insurance cost for my premiums go up 50% just over three years. i've also heard the drug companies are saying that if we are going to be limited on what we can charge for medications, we're just going to up your premiums every month and i would like to hear some information on that. guest: there is lively competition among the medicare drug plans. they cannot increase the payments too much because then you can switch plans and people do.

when my mom had medicare part d which is prescription drug insurance, i switched her plan almost every year. medicare has one of the few really good websites that let you compare and put it the doses and you can see pretty clearly which of the various plans are available to you will be the best value. that is the break on increasing amy adams. it's true that if the prices of drugs go up, so will the amount of rhenium's that beneficiaries have to pay for. it's one of the reasons why when you ask voters what their top priorities are, prescription drug rises are very much near the top and they have been for. the last several years host: what about the overall cost of health care for americans? the front page of the new york times has a piece -- painful reminder of baby deaths,

207,000 dollars in bills for a hospital stay for their baby, for this couple. a daughter born prematurely and loses her life weeks later and their reminder is the small those that start rolling in. guest: the cost of health care is one of the largest problems facing the united states right now. that's where the money is. it's almost 1/5 of the u.s. economy right now and the amount americans had to pay for health care is too much for the vast majority of people. it's something congress has been grappling with. there are a lot of vested interest to give a lot of money to members of congress. they complained that if they are not allowed to earn this money, they will not bellow treatments

and cures and drugs. it is a constant push and pull on what the u.s. will do about health care and it's become a very partisan issue. democrats would like to see more government involvement in health care and republicans would like to see less guest:. guest:host:host: lancaster, california, done caller. caller: my name is wanda and my problem is not just the price of these prescription drugs. i want every last one of you guys to check your prescriptions. they are not even fda approved. check them out, check out the medication you are taking. it is host: have any thoughts on that? guest:guest: prescription drugs have to be fda approved or they cannot be dispensed. there are many over-the-counter medications.

the fda does not for instance regulate supplements. that's a whole separate issue we can spend an hour on about fda oversight of vitamins and drug supplements. there are things that people take they consider to be drugs but the fda does not. if you get it from behind the prescription counter come it has to be approved the fda. host: here is a tweet from georgia. guest: these are medicare advantage programs. if you're willing to abide by the restrictions they have, you can see providers in a certain network, then you can save a fair bit of money. one of the tricky things about medicare advantage is you go into a plan and you want to go back later to traditional medicare, you can do that but

you might not be able to buy a medicare supplemental plan to help you with the other out of pocket costs that come with additional medicare. you can switch to a different medicare advantage plan but it's hard to go back to regular medicare once you want to medicare advantage. host: john in louisiana, republican. caller: good morning, i will take the assumption that neither one of you are on medicare or medicaid or any of the government plans. i spent 28 years in the air force, retired and completed a 16 year stint with delta airlines. i am 78 years old so i have been on the government planned for quite a while. military retirees get our prescriptions and it's called express scripts. i saw that number of $1500 per

year. i must be on the low end of that for some reason. i have not seen a single prescription for myself or my wife who has considerable drug issues. her health is bad for a lot of reasons. i don't see anything over $10 for a prescription. i don't know if somebody has come up with a better plan that we, the military get. host: let's look at that. is the military plan better? guest: tricare is a generous plan and i know many people who are on it all stop express scripts scripts as the pharmacy benefit management that many with public and private insurance use so it's not really the express scripts program, if the underlying insurance which i imagine is tricare that lawyers on top of medicare.

it's pretty generous and some people have that her insurance than others. if you do, be thankful. host: harry from georgia, medicare recipient. caller: good morning to you and thank you c-span. i just wanted to raise this issue. i hadn't heard it mentioned yet. it's already been demonstrated that the pharmaceutical companies spend twice as much on advertising in a year as they do on research and development. their argument that they cannot produce all of these new innovative drugs if we start negotiating with them for prices is really a lie. they are spending probably a whole lot more in advertising to

produce these advertisements again to scare us. host: what about the cost of lobbying? guest: the drug industry spends a lot of money on lobbying and advertising. and in campaign contributions to members of congress which may be one of the reasons why it been so hard for congress to do something about prescription drug rises. there were efforts in the late 1990's to band scription drug companies from being able to deduct the cost of their advertising and promotional activities which didn't go anywhere. this is not the first time this has been pointed out step they spend an enormous amount of money on promotion as they do on research and development for new drugs. and medications host: you can find a julierovne r and follow her on twitter and follow her, always appreciate

the conversation. guest: great to talk to you. host: when we come back, we will turn our tension to immigration and the situation at the southern border with tens of thousands of immigrants crossing, many of them haitian. we will talk with the washington post, we will be right back. ♪ >> coming up this week on the c-span networks -- homeland security secretary hallahan drove mallorca and fbi director christopher wray and national counterterrorism director christine avise appear on threats to the homeland 20 years after 9/11 and we will have live average of their testimony before the homeland security committee at 9:30 a.m. interest -- eastern. later on wednesday at 230 p.m. eastern, federal reserve chair jerome powell holds a press conference.

watch this week on the c-span networks or listen on the c-span radio app. www.c-span.org for scheduling information or stream video live or on-demand any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪ ♪ >> "washington journal" continues. host: maria wsachetti is with

the washington post. when you look at the images of the tens of thousands of migrants crossing from mexico into del rio, texas, many of them haitian, explained to our viewers what is happening there and is it because of the biden administration's immigration and border policy? guest: there are complex reasons people leave. migrants have told us they feel this administration had promised to be more compassionate to immigrants and they have allowed more families in. these haitian migrants that are arriving or people who fled the 2010 earth wake that's what i covered and as far as natural disasters, i have not seen such human devastation. they went to places like chile and tried to make a go over

there and now. they are on the move again no administration really has wanted this type of arrival. they don't want people crossing regularly at the. order obama didn't and bush before him didn't. the biden either. they are trying to make it into the united states where there's an established issue with american communities and many migrants are arriving and there are jobs for them. host: what did the biden administration do with the haitians that were already in the country this summer? what today tell them and was that the contriving factor to the haitians coming in now? guest: they extended temporary protection status because of the latest earthquake which was very damaging but not as damaging as

the one the migrants fled. the country is engulfed in political turmoil in the president was just assassinated. crime has been rising exponentially. there is a lot of danger there and essentially the biden administration says it was to dangerous to haitians for deportation but they are expelling haitians at the border as a way of discouraging others to come. host: you have haitians were in this country temporarily that escaped after the 2010 earth wake. -- earthquake. how many arehat were

not eligible for that and that's an example of the contradiction in immigration policy under biden as it was under trump and presidents before him. people who cross the border illegally are a priority for deportation. most migrants crossing our neck or mentals but there is the possibility that they -- most migrants crossing are not criminals but there is the possibility that some are. host: what is the possibility for these people under the bridge and del rio, texas. what happens when they arrived at this camp? guest: they are on the mexican

side. under previous governments, once they set foot on u.s. soil, they should be able to apply for asylum and that's international law and those of the aclu would argue the biden administration is violating that and they are sending people home to places where they could face danger. that is something that is not supposed to happen. at the same time, there are smugglers who are selling migrants these trips and encouraging them to come and say you will get into the united states and that is a very dangerous trip. die and that's not something the biden administration or any administration wants to see. it's a real challenge to govern right now. host: how does the deportation process work for these folks who

we are seeing? how does it work and who is getting deported? is anyone allowed to stay? guest: the government has always said they make exceptions for cases where people have expressed a fear, a legitimate fear, and they refer them to people who can assess that. this is something that happens behind closed doors. it's very difficult for the media to ever find out that the government has done that and there are real questions. there is an investigation right now about some border patrol immigrant's treatment. are the immigrants in danger here or when they get sent home to haiti? if someone is taken into custody in the united states, you go to

the house and pull a file and attend a hearing at supposed to be transparent but the system is not transparent so. we cannot find that out host: we heard from a viewer earlier that said unaccompanied minors of these groups we are seeing are allowed to stay. is that true? guest: most family units have been getting into the united states. pretty much all unaccompanied minors have been getting in and that something the biden administration has been doing since the beginning stuff it was something the trump administration had to do but earlier this year, the court gave the biden administration the choice and they declined to expel children who arrived by themselves. the biden administration has continued to expel family members. they have allowed most of them to get in so they are trying to do it in an orderly fashion.

what you are seeing at the border right now is they have not been able to do that host: host:. if you are a haitian family and you are crossing with children, are you going to be allowed to stay? guest: they have been expelling people. my understanding is that they have been expelling people but i am not out there on the border right now. host: on top of these images that folks are seeing, here in washington, democrats were told by the senate parliamentarian that you cannot include immigration plans and their 3.5 trillion dollar reconciliation bill. what to they want to do in this legislation? guest: they wanted to try to legalize as many as 8 million people. there were high hopes for this to happen and democrats have a

very slim majority in both houses and they believe this is the only way they can get it done. the last major amnesty was in 1986 and that was 35 years ago. it was 35 years before that when they pass that one. these kind of things can take a long time. to be included in the budget, it has to have a budgetary impact. that has to be the main point of including it in the budget. lawmakers argue that it did and how it can contribute to this country but the parliamentarian basically said it's a policy issue. she even expressed sympathy for immigrants in this situation. they are exploited at work and underpaid and they take dangerous jobs.

the immigrants haven't been able to see their families in a long time but they cannot leave the country be as they might not back in. it was a real challenge but this is the congress the people elected. the nation is divided and so they are not able to reach the full threshold. others say that democrats should be bold and they should use the power they have. the trump administration did some of the most extreme immigration policies. they started expelling people. the biden administration is cap those in place. many people feel this should have been the treatment immigrants should face under a different type of government in the future.

democrats are still trying but it's a very difficult place right now. host: martha, south carolina, go ahead. caller: i just have a statement. thanks for taking my call host what people need to realize is that with migration, mary and joseph had to travel from city to city and everybody needs to get together and help these people, thanks. host: what sort of help to these migrants need once they are in

-- on u.s. soil and waiting for the process to begin? are they getting food from the united states? guest: you can see from the photos the extreme conditions. the migrants had to cross back into mexico to get supplies and some of the -- or there is a vivid photo that shows the border patrol on horseback and families appear to be carrying takeout food. they are having to wade across the river into mexico to buy stuff some vendors are coming over and they are selling food. on the u.s. side of the river, they are in federal custody and it looks like the conditions

seen extreme. host: ruth in illinois, independent. caller: yes, the border patrol guys that thousands have been reported. the border patrol said 300 have been deported. they are not giving us the right information. yesterday, there was 14,000 haitians sitting underneath the bridge in del rio. i have a question -- i hear these people say that christians don't care. god says we are commanded to obey the laws of the land. we have laws in this land we have a way to come into america,

a legal way. these people are running drug cartels from 5000-15,000 to come into america. , illegally. guest: this is an important point. these trips are organized by smuggling organizations and selling immigrants the idea they can seek a better life in the united states. the condition is they have already fled. they have fled in earth way and tried to go to other countries where they may be facing racism or opportunity or covid outbreaks. they have been given this chance they think at a better life. you look at the refugee numbers, it's 120 5000 which is a big and

reese but there are. millions of refugees in the world . in some ways, the smugglers are able to create a solution for immigrants that they think could be immediate. instead, they are leading them to this very difficult situation. we are seeing families being expelled as well. my colleague had reported that some families said they were not being told that they were being deported back to haiti because they had not lived there for. a long time.

host: as you are talking about, they lead after 2010 and went to chile and brazil and they were able to get jobs they are but because of the pandemic, those jobs have vanished. now they are making the trip to the united states. explain asylum laws and do they apply here? guest: that's a complicated question because we don't know the reasons they fled haiti whether it was economic or suffering political persecution. asylum is very specific, you have to set foot on u.s. soil and fear persecution in your homeland based on various reasons such as your politics or your race or your religion. usually, lawyers sort this out on both sides, the government lawyer and if the immigrants can afford a lawyer. they sorted out in immigration

court or an asylum office. if someone fled haiti because they were being persecuted and they went to another country, there are sometimes these situations get really complicated and they may not while a i for asylum but may qualify for another form of humanitarian relief. host: here is another text. i read in the paper that some had jobs there and they sold everything they had and then made the trip to the united states from those countries. what have you found out in your reporting? guest: it's been this way for a

long time. it's not the poorest of the poor who night -- you migrate. you have to pay the smugglers. it's terribly dangerous to cross through mexico. we have reported that order of the border is under the jurisdiction of organized crime. some people borrow the money from their relatives and some people just sell everything they own. many do end up running out of money along the journey so that becomes a problem so it could be possible they are not able to get money where they are now. they were definitely able to get out of haiti. as someone who covers immigration inside the country, it's interesting that so many tried other countries first. so many haitians already live here. people have done very well in

florida or are in elected office and are all over the country. there are large numbers in massachusetts. host: jerry in tacoma, washington, democratic caller. caller: the lady was talking about the haitian religion. most haitians are christian. to the woman who is talking about that, i would ask her ww jd? it seems that haitians have been punished since the haitian revolution since they fought for their freedom and abolished slavery. i want to know specifically, does she think that america is still practicing a form of the whitening process really only

let in white immigrants and have a tendency not to add too many black immigrants? host: do you have any thoughts on that? guest: i think there are real concerns that racism is on the move again. they are also being attacked in mexico and that we are seeing these images on the air. i think there are real questions and concerns about the treatment of haitians. it's the first black republic, haiti.

there has been a lot of turmoil, and there was a lot of problems in the country in the 2010 earthquake was absolutely devastating. the homeland security secretary knows it very well. he was the homeland security -- he was in the government when it happened. he is someone who has worked with this committee do for a long time and he is really aware of the challenges. i think there is a lot of hard conversation going on. host: nelson in florida, republican. caller: i think the united states made a big mistake when it included asylum applications legal for problems of crime in the country of origin.

it used to be that it dealt only with the kind of government they had such as, i'm 72 so such as communism when i was growing up or radical islamic scenarios, this has created a big mess where a lot of people can claim asylum quite often for reasons that have already been stipulated which did not use be included. the united states also has a lot of crime. what if half the population of chicago picked up stakes and emigrated? i'm sorry what's happening in many of these countries but is the responsibility of those governments to deal with. those problems, thank you

guest: after covering the second earthquake recently, i was hearing that from haitian americans who went down to haiti to try to help the country and a lot of people have done well in the united states and they went there to try to help and rebuild the government and rebuild systems and they felt the leadership, that the country deserved better leadership. he obviously had this terrible situation with the reason assassination of the haitian leader but this is something that goes back years and people have wanted better leadership that they have also wanted greater cooperation from the government and recognition of the serious problems that the country has had because of its

treatment of other countries. -- by other countries. host: our viewers can hear questions of the homeland security sec. by lawmakers today. he will be testifying on capitol hill. they will testify on security threats to the united states, life sick -- live coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern time3, online at www.c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. eric, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. my comment this morning, i am an immigrant myself. you can't understand how disheartening it is when people

try to take shortcuts and show up at the border. people don't understand that that affects those who are trying to come here legally. i blame this on the biden administration. you can say whatever you want to say but trump at the border under control. biden took the border as being complete chaos. something has to be done step we say everybody to get legalized in america. if you don't secure the order, you will have 30 billion emigrants showing up. that border needs to be secure, thank you very much. host: david in denver, colorado, democratic caller. caller: i've been listening all morning and i think it comes down to this -- are we steve

miller because by virtue of what we offer in comparison to the rest of the hemisphere and the haitians are a prime example starting off with brazil and moving to chile and migrating through central america to get here. there is going to be a pool that existed. stephen miller put everybody in mexico and people waited in mexico in squalor. host: i have to abruptly ended there and my apologies. you can follow the reporting at washington post.com. thank you very much for the conversation this morning. guest: thanks for having me. we are ending now because the house is coming in early today and they begin their legislative work with live coverage here on c-span stop -- c-span.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., september 21, 2021. i hereby appoint the honorable val b